Cage enjoyed the best debut weekend of his career

The comic book adaptation earned $44.5m (�22.8m) from Friday to Sunday, according to studio estimates.

Disney fantasy Bridge to Terabithia opened in second place, with last week's number one, Eddie Murphy comedy Norbit, down to third.

Romantic comedies Music and Lyrics and Daddy's Little Girls debuted at fourth and fifth in the chart.

Ghost Rider's debut weekend was the biggest north American opening of the year so far, despite largely poor reviews for the film.

"A comic book franchise is not born with this stillborn debut of Marvel's Ghost Rider," said the Hollywood Reporter, while Variety said the film "never measures up" to the character's "infernal potential".

NORTH AMERICAN BOX OFFICE 1 Ghost Rider ($44.5m) 2 Bridge to Terabithia ($22.1m) 3 Norbit ($16.8m) 4 Music and Lyrics ($14m) 5 Daddy's Little Girls ($12.1m) 6 Breach ($10.4m) 7 Hannibal Rising ($5.5m) 8 Because I Said So ($5m) 9 The Messengers ($3.8m) 10 Night at the Museum ($3.7m)Source: Media by Numbers

Cage plays a motorbike stunt rider inhabited by the supernatural title character, a sort of bounty hunter for a demon.

He is joined in the cast by Peter Fonda, Sam Elliott, Wes Bentley and Eva Mendes.

Overall box office revenues rose for the first time in six weekends, and the top 12 movies took $141.4m (�72.5m) - 28% more than the same time last year.